Dustless ash-sifter



c. e. FETTE. DUSTLESS ASH SIFTER. APPLICATION FILED OCT-23; I918- Patented July 20, 1920.

, IH IIII HIIIIII.

UNITED .STATES *CHA'BLOTTE G'.'FE'1'TE, 0F SHELTON, CONNECTICUT.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

' DUSTLESS ASH-SIFTER.

Patented July 20, 19 20.

L Application filedOctober 23, 1918'. Serial No. 259,369.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLOTTE G. .Fnr'rn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Shelton, in the county .of Fairfield, State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dustless Ash- Sifters; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the/same.

The invention relates to a sifter and more particularly to the class of dustless ash sifters.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of asift'er of this character, wherein'the sifting is done within a reticulated rotary cylinder mounted on and driven by an axial shaft, and the latter has V-shaped elbows in its length within the cylinder so as to agitate "the ashes during the operation thereof.

A furtherobject ofthe invention is-the provision of a sifterof this character, which possesses simplicity inconstruc'tion, durability, efficiency in operation and also one which may be manufactured at a minimum expense.

VVith these and other objects .in view, the invention consists in the features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and pointed out in the claim hereunto appended. v

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1, is a front elevation of a sifter constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2, is an end elevation thereof.

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4, is a vertical longitudinal sectional view through the sifter. T Fig. 5, is a fragmentary detailed sectional view through the sifter cylinder showing the manner of fastening the cover section closed.

Fig. 6, is a fragmentary transverse sectional view showing in detail the manner of fastening the cover to the casing closed.

Referring to the drawing in detail, A, designates a casing preferably of box-like formation having a forwardly arched cover or lid B connected to the back wall ofthe casing A, for vertical swinging movement to open or close the same through the medium of strap hinges 10, while at the front of the casing A near opposite ends thereof are snap spring catches 11 which engage the cover or lid B for latching the same closed.

Formed in the lower portion of the casing A is a drawer space. which opens through the front side of the casing and slidably receives therein a drawer 12 adapted to catch ashes when the sifter is operated. 'The drawer at the front is fitted with loop handles 13 for permitting the convenient opening and closing of said drawer. The front of the drawer snugly and detachably fits the opening of the drawer space in the casing A to avoid the escape of ashes during theoperation of the sifter.

. Interiorly of the casing A and mounted on the end walls thereof approximately centrally of the same, are substantially U- shaped bearings 14' in which isjournaled a rotatable shaft 15,.the end 16 of which is passed through the adjacent end wall of the casing A .eXteriorly thereof and carries a movable crank handle for the manual rotation of the shaft 15 as will be obvious.

Carried upon the shaft 15 within the easing A is a rotary cylinder formed with a reticulated or wire meshed cylindrical body 18 and circular ends 19 having centrally passed therethrough the shaft 15, the body 18 being fixed to the ends 19 in any suitable manner, while these ends 19 concentrically of the shaft 15 have fixed thereto collars 20 in which are mounted set screws 21 adapted to bite into the shaft 15 for the fastening of the ends 19 thereon.

The body 18 includes a door section 22 supported upon hinges 23 and held closed through the medium of spring clips 24 engaging suitable keepers on the body 18, and into this cylindrical sifter is placed ashes to be sifted, the ashes being introduced on the opening of the cover or lid B and the door 22, as will be apparent.

The cinders and unspent fuel will be re tained in the cylinder while the ashes will be deposited in the drawer during the operation of the sifter. The shaft 15 is bent on itself or distorted to form intermediate and outer reversely set or extended sub-tri angular portions or elbows 25 and 26 re spectively, which constitute agitator portions within the sifter cylinder for breaking up the masses of ashes contained therein during the operation of the sifter.

These elbows are V-shaped bends formed in the shaft l5,'and it will be observed from Fig. 3 that the intermediate bend 25 rises from' the line of the shaft while the two endmost bends 26 depend from said line and stand-in the plane of the pendant crank handle; hence there is a preponderance of weight tendingto hold the cylinderwith its door at the top, so that when the casing door is o'penthe cylinder door maybe reached and opened. hloreover,the angles of'the bends in the agitator shaft stand about midway between the line of the shaft and the reticulated cylinder, and therefore when the latter is rotated the material therein is agitated by the angles of the the cylinder; and when the crank'handle de' bends which dip into the materialmore or less asthe materlal 1s deep'or shallow within scendsthe angles of the two endmost bends agltatethe mass, whereas the angle'of the intermediate bend agitates such mass as thehandle ascends-therefore during each com; plete revolution the endmost bends dip partly'into and pass through the mass once along lines near the heads of the cylinder and the intermediate bend dips "once into this mass on a line substantially at the midlength of the-cylinder. The action of as sifter of this'kind is that the masslying .within the cylinder is carried partway up its ascendlng side, and as fastvas its angle of re pose becomes sufficlently steep the upper V portion of tl1e-masstumbles back constantly to the bottom of the cylinder which is now mostly clear, and falls through it into the receptacle below. Said tumbling portion includes everything from the finest dust to the coarsest particles, but: the weight of r the latter causes them to move more quickly,

and the result is that they fall across the mass and reach the bottom of the cylinder Q first; As they are too large topass through the screen, they repeat the operation again and again,unless they become broken, up into smaller particles. Therefore an "agi tator within a rotary sifting screen adapted for use on ashes, especially where its pros jections extend only partway from the axis to the screen, has the eil'ect ofiretarding the fall of said larger particles so that they are more quickly broken up andcomplete dis integra-tion' of the masseffected; I find that it is not necessary to iha've 'the agitator extend to or even nearly to the screen:

surface, because the fine dust readily passes therethrough without the necessity for agi= tation." v

l/Vhat is claimed is: j' A sifter of thetyp'e 'describechcomprising a screcn'cylinder, a shaftfixedlymount ed through the centers of its ends-and formed between the latter into V shaped supporting the extremities of saidshaft and for turning it to rotate the cylinder; 7

In testimony whereof'IfaffiX my in the presence of two witnesses; j

\Vitnesses v OMER Fonrrnm,

* J. ALMANDINGER,

Mas; CHARLOTTE G. FETTE 7 1 7e ignature 

